England Under 20s

Mark Jennings

Key Facts

Squad	Sale Sharks
Position	Centre
Age	20
Height	1.83m (6'0")
Weight	92kg (14st 6lb)
Caps	U20: 4

Back in February 2008, Mark Jennings became a record breaker as the youngest player to sign for Sale Sharks. He did so on his 16th birthday, began training on a full-time basis in conjunction with Lymm High School and studied for a BTEC in Rugby at Myerscough College.

Mark is now a Sale Sharks first team squad member, having graduated from the club’s academy, and was a newcomer to the England U20 squad for 2011-12. He appeared in four games at that level when the side won the 2013 RBS 6 Nations Championship.

Born in Namibia, he moved to England at the age of three, is a British citizen and was a try scorer from the wing for the national U18 side against South Africa at Port Elizabeth in the four-team tournament in July 2010. He had represented England U16 in the Four Nations Championship and has captained seven different teams, encompassing Huddersfield RFC U10 to Altrincham Kersal U15.

Playing and scoring a try at Twickenham in the Daily Mail U15 Cup final is among his most memorable experiences so far, along with a Heineken Cup match at Toulon. He said: “It was a great experience and atmosphere at the ground along with playing against Jonny Wilkinson, Matt Giteau, Bakkies Botha and Mathieu Bastareaud.”

Mark had benched for England U18 against Australia in December 2009 and France at Newbury the following March before starting on the wing in another win over Italy at Calvisano and also appearing against Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

He played against Ireland in the opening match of 2010-11 at Donnybrook in the December and showed his speed to score England’s final try in a 29-12 victory. He took his U18 caps total to 13 and added tries against Italy U19 at Sale, Scotland at Headingley Carnegie and Wales in Auch. His previous education was at High Burton Junior School, Huddersfield and Raven Bank Junior School in Lymm and he began playing when eight at the Huddersfield club.

He represented Cheshire through the U14-U16 age groups, the North U16 and U18 and has progressed under the guidance of Peter Anglesea and Bryan Redpath at Sale Sharks, John Fletcher, the England U18 head coach, Myerscough College coaches Dave Kidd, Steve Gough and Phil Leck and Len Davies and Simon Baker at Lymm High School. His Sharks’ first team debut was against London Wasps in December 2012.

At school, he won the player of the year in four consecutive age groups from Year 7-10 and was presented with the outstanding achievement award for sport. He said: “I want to go on to get into the full England team during my career.”

His inspirational role models are New Zealand's Sonny Bill Williams and Mathieu Bastareaud, of France. Salford City Stadium, the Sharks’ base, is his favourite ground.